DOCUMENTS 
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»:NTS 

PT. 


After  more  than  five  years  suspension  of  the  greater"  part 
of  its  operations,  the  Geological  and  Agricultural  Survey  of 
the  State  has  resumed  its  activity,  under  the  organization  it 
possessed  for  eighteen  months  prior  to  the  war.  For  the  pre- 
sent year  its  field  operations  will  necessarily  remain  suspended 
for  want  of  the  requisite  funds,  but  it  is  intended  they  shall 
be  resumed  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  in  the  spring  of 
the  coining  year.  Meanwhile,  the  office  work,  especially  the 
examination  of  soils,  marls,  rocks,  mineral  waters,  etc.,  will 
steadily  progress,  not.  it  is  hoped,  to  be  ogam  interrupted. 
In  announcing  the  fact,  I  renew  the  invitation  to  all  those  de- 
siring such  examinations,  or  able  to  contribute  specinunsor 
facts  to  illustrate  the  resources  of  the  State,  to  communicate 
with  me. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  the  information  intended  to 
be  elicited  and  conveyed  to  the  people  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  this  work,  was  so  much  needed  as  at  present,  when 
everything  requires  to  be  "reconstructed."  As  regards  our 
agricultural  habits  and  practices,  it  is  universally  admitted  that 
a  mere  return  to  the  status  quo  ante  bellvm  would  be  worse  than 
unwise;  itwcud  be  ruinous,  and  in  a  great  degree  practically 
impossible.  We  are  compelled  to  make  the  most  of  what 
means  the  war  has  left  us,  in  developing  the  natural  resources 
of  the  country  under  the  new  circumstances  and  necessities 
which  have  arisen.  To  aid  the  people  in  doing  this  intelli- 
gently and  to  the  best  advantage,  by  a  careful  and  thorough 
observation  of  facts,  and  the  application  to  them  of  correct 
priciples,  as  derived  from  the  observation  and  experience  of 
the  present  and  past  ages  is  the  province  and  object  of  a 
Geological  and  Agricultural  Survey. 

It  is  tliis  observation  of  facts,  needful  above  nil,  which  con- 
stitutes the  heaviest  portion  of  the  work,  and  that  in  which, 
unless  assisted  by  the  people,  the  most  skillful  observer  must 
fall  short  of  what  no  one  better  than  himself  knows  is  requi- 
site to  give  to  his  conclusions  that  practical  value,  with  a  view 
to  which  chiefly  the  work  was  undertaken.  It  is  quite  impos- 
sible within  the  limits  of  time  and  expenditure  usually  allotted, 
to  attain  by  personal  examination  a  knowledge  of  all  the  min- 
ute details  with  which  long  residence  has  made  even  the  most 
unobservant  inhabitant  familiar. 

Such  assistance,  in  my  travels  through  the  State,  I  have  con- 
stantly asked,  and  as  a  rule,  it  has  been  freely  given ;  and  I 
deeply  regret  my  inability  at  present,  to  refer  those  who  have 
done  so  to  my  report  of  results,  made  to  the  Legislature  in 
I860,*  for  proof  that  the  seed  they  sowed  hag  not  fallen 
upon  sterile  soil. 

In  the  interests  of  the  objects  of  the  Survey,  I  most  earnest- 
ly solicit  contributions  from  all  friends  of  material  and  intel- 
lectual, agricultural  and  educational  progress.  Specimens  of 
rocks,  clayt,  marls,  earths  and  toil,  arc  especial!}'  desirable  and 
important,  and  scarcely  less  so  what  are  usually  considered 
as  mere  curiosities — -fossil  shells,  bones  or  leaves.  .  The  latter 
are  among  the  most  essential  metns  available  to.  the  geologist, 
of  ascertaining  the  geological  structure  of  a  country  ;  without 
which  its  agricultural  and  technical  resources  cannot  be  esti- 
mated. Fossils  are  the  landmarks  in  the  depths  of  the  earth, 
the  letters  of  the  geological  alphabet ;  hence  the  practical  and 
scientific  importance  which  attaches  to  their  study.  It  is  ex- 
tremely desirable  that  it  should  be  generally  known  how  valu- 
able are  ail  individual  contributions  of  this  character,  especi- 
ally if  accompanied  by  accurate  labels,  giving  the  exact  locality, 
depth,  etc.,  at  which  the  specimen  was  obtained.  The  best 
preserved  specimens  are  commonly  found  casual!}',  in  digging 
wells,  cisterns,  cellars,  railroad  cuts,  etc..  and  would,  if  preser- 
red  and  combined,  form  a  finer  collection  than  any  which 
could  be  gathered  during  a  sjstematic  survey. 

I  equally  request  the  communication  of  all  observations  or 
questions,  bearing  upon  the  material  resources  or  natural  history 
of  the  State,  whether  illustrated  by  specimens  or  not  Ques- 
tions must  be  mooted  before  they  can  be  settled ;  and  it  is  often 
not  among  the  least  difficult  tasks  to  stir  up  those  which  most 
interest  the  people  of  any  particular  section  of  country.  I 
shall,  as  heretofore,  give  prompt  attention  to  all  communica- 
tions of  this  kind,  furnishing  in  return  such  information  as  I 
possess,  or  can  derive  from  the  examination  of  specimens  sent ; 
and  where  no  satisfactory  conclusion  can  be  reached,  keeping 
the  matter  on  record  for  future  investigation. 

The  Survey  is  now  so  far  advanced  towards  completion,  that 
all  the  chief  geological  and  agricultural  features  have  been  de- 
termined, and  are  represented  in  the  collection  of  specimens. 
Many  interesting  and  important  details  still  remain  to  be  in- 
vestigated ;  but  there  is  no  longer,  for  example,  any  doubt  as 
to  what  minerals  may  or  may  not  be  looked  for  in  the  various 
sections,  and  that,  apart  from  iron  ore,  no  metallic  ores  are  to 
be  expected.  But  it  is  not  this  kind  of  mineral  wealth  which 
assures  the  most  desirable  species  of  prosperity.  Mines  enrich 
individuals  rather  than  the  people  at  large.  Agriculture  and 
the  arts  immediately  connected  with  it,  form  the  surest  basis 

811 


OFFICE  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SURVEY, j_j 
Oxford,  [Mississippi.  July  18GG. 


of  the  prosperity  and  independence  of  a  commonwealth,  and 
in  her  natural  resources,  in  this  respect,  Mississippi  is  excelled 
by  few,  if  any  States  in  the  Union. 

But  the  richest  sources  of  wealth  avail  nothing,  if  left  to  He 
idle  from  ignorMice  of  their  existence  or  mode  of  development ; 
j  and  the  richest  soil  may  speedily  be  rendered  sterile  by  a  waste- 
ful and  improvident  mode  of  culture.  That  the  last  mention- 
ed evil  has  already  become  a  cr}ing  one  in  this  State,  few  will 
deny.  Heretofore  the  practice  in  such  cases  has  been  the 
abandonment  of  the  ill-treated  soil  to  broom-sedge  and  per- 
simmon bushes.  That  this  mode  of  proceeding  cannot  be 
indulged  in  hereafter — that  i*  is  the  direct  road  to  bankruptcy 
and  ruin  of  «ny  agricultural  community,  need  but  be  mention- 
ed to  be  admiiu-u  by  the  most  careless.  How  then  is  the  evil 
to  be  prevented  in  future,  and  how  is  the  injury  already  done 
to  be  remedied  ? 

There  are  some  who  seem  to  expect  that  science  ought  to 
give  them  some  magical  formula,  by  which,  without  addition- 
al trouble,  they  might  continue  to  live  carelessly  as  heretofore. 
But  it  is  not  by  patent  recipes,  or  crude  experimenting,  but  by 
the  path  of  experience  illuminated  by  common  sense  and 
sound  reasoning,  (which  constitutes  science,)  that  we  must 
seek  this  consumation  devoutly  to  be  wished. 

First —  We  must  study  our  soils,  and  the  means  provided  by 
nature  for  the  maintenance  or  resuscitation  of  their  fertility. 

Secondly — He  must  ieac/t  what  we  have  so  leaned  to  our  agri- 
culturalists, especially  the  young,  together  with  the  principles 
of  rational  agriculture. 

An  Agricultural  Survey  is  the  needful  preliminary  step  to- 
wards the  establishment  of  truly  practical  Schools  of  Agricul- 
ture, in  which  the  youth  of  the  land  shall  be  taught,  not  only 
what  they  ought  to  do  in  certain  supposititious  cases,  but 
what,  in  fact  and  in  practice,  are  the  cases  they  will  have  to 
deal  with. 

Both  these  important  objects  were  contemplated  in  the  in- 
tention of  the  Survey,  but  the  former  alone  has  thus  far  been 
essentially  promoted,  on  account  both  of  the  incompatibility, 
at  first,  of  the  duties  of  a  teacher  and  chief  of  the  Survey,  and 
the  comparative  inutility  of  merely  theoretical  instruction  in 
this  brrnch. 

Both  objections  having  ceased  to  exist,  by  reason  of  the  ad- 
vanced state  of  the  work,  it  is  hoped  that  now,  under  the  press- 
ing demand  for  information  of  this  kind,  the  second  and  most 
important,  part  of  the  programme  can  be  made  to  resume  its 
place,  and  a  chance  for  agricultural  education  be  afforded  the 
agriculturalist.  The  facts  and  principles  set  forth  by  a  printed 
report  will  be  long  in  becoming  a  part  of  popular  conscious- 
ness, unless  they  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  rising  generation, 
and  made  part  and  parcel  of  their  education. 

But  the  success  of  all  that  has  been  and  can  be  done,  de- 
pends always  and  pre-eminently  upon  the  intelligent  interest  of 
the  agricultural  population  in  the  advancement  of  their  pursuit, 
and  of  their  own  prosperity.  The  scientific  imvestigator  can 
but  show  the  ways  and  means :  it  is  for  them  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  information  conveyed,  and  in  their  turn  to  exert 
themselves  to  amplify  and  complete  it. 

The  State,  through  a  large  portion  of  its  length  and  breadth 
is  underlaid  by  marls  and  greensands,  excelled  by  none  in  New 
Jersey  or  Virginia,  where  they  have  made  the  wilderness  of 
broout-scdge  bloom  like  the  rose.  But  what  does  this  knowl- 
edge avail  a  man  who  prefers  raising  a  quarter  of  a  bale  of 
cotton  per  aire,  to  doubling  his  crops  by  digging  marl  pita  on 
one  half  his  land  ?  What  if  the  lands  supposed  to  be  worn 
out  are  shown  to  be  merely  in  a  state  of  "suspended  anima- 
tion," waiting  but  intelligent  culture  to  reclaim  them,  if  no 
one  is  found  willing  to  bestow  it  ?  What  if  it  is  shown  that 
artesian  water  can  be  made  to  flow  where  the  poisonous  mag- 
nesian  waters  are  now  daily  quaffed,  if  the  chronic  ague  is  pre- 
ferred to  the  trouble  of  boring  the  wells  ?  We  have  beds  of 
lignite,  or  brown  coal,  traversed  by  railroads ;  but  our  grates 
(if  grates  we  will  hare)  continue  to  be  fed  with  Pittsburg  coal, 
and  the  native  product  is  known  only  as  "black  dirt." 

Let  all  contribute  to  the  extent  of  their  ability,  towards  a 
systematic  knowledge  and  development  of  their  resources,  and 
the  prosperity  of  Mississippi  will  soon  be  re-established  upon 
a  firmer  basis  than  ever  before. 

Person*  residing  within  more  convenient  reach  of  Oakland 
College  than  Oxford,  may  address  Prof.  GEORGE  LITTLE 
of  that  institution,  who  has  courteously  offered  his  co-opera- 
tion. EUG.  W.  HILGARD, 

State  Otologist  of  Mississippi. 

*It  may  be  proper  here  to  mention  that  this  report,  contain- 
ing a  record  and  discussion  of  the  results  thus  far  obtained  by 
the  survey,  was  printed  in  an  edition  of  5,000  copies  in  1860; 
but  in  consequence,  first  of  the  blockade,  and  since  of  pecu- 
niary and  legislative  difficulties,  it  still  remains  in  the  hands 
of  the  book-binder. 


&  a  t?  3  a  1 3 


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